A few, hopefully helpful , notes on Etiquette for members and visitors
Duties of Members:
i. Members are expected to be seated by 6.45 pm
in order to assist the Tournament Director set the movement..
ii. Casual tidy is the accepted minimum Dress Code.
iii. Mobile Phones: You can have them with you but
switch them off for the evening.
iv. Smoking is not allowed in the building
v. Make yourself a coffee in the kitchen but remember to
clean your cup afterwards and tidy up any mess you create.
vi. Be friendly and courteous at all times.
vii The event Director may ask you to shuffle the cards in a board at
the beginning of a Club Night. Sometimes other members at the
table will do the same. Please remember to return the correct cards
to the board i.e. Blue backed card are in the odd numbered boards
and red in the even numbered boards. This helps in case of a mix up
during play
viii Never criticise or offer advice unless asked.
Comments beginning ‘You should have…….’ or
‘Why didn’t you……’ often offend even if they are
not intended to!
If problems do occur at the Table, including those referred to under
local pointers (pg7), the Event Director should always be called at
the moment the problem occurs.
ix. All bidding cards, including passes must be left on the table until the first lead
x. The opening lead should be made face downward in
case the lead is accidentally made from the wrong side.
xi. Usually only North should handle the boards.
The board in play should be left visible so that all can see the
vulnerability during the play of the hand.
xii. Please save post-mortems until the end of the round -
if you have time left, to avoid delaying other people.
Keep the discussion quiet. You don’t want the next table to hear do
you? It is normal bridge etiquette not to attempt to gain from any
information gained inadvertently from infringement of rules or from
other tables. Players should not make a particular bid, lead or play if
it can be alleged they have done so because of unauthorised
information-unless it is clear that nearly all Bridge players would
xiii Hands should normally played out to determine the
number of tricks won-after all we all come to the club to
play our cards!
In exceptional circumstances e.g. to save time a player may claim a
small number of winners which happen to be in one hand.
A player may, of course, ask the claimant to continue to play the cards.
Claim or Concession of Tricks (Law 68) states that:
Any statement that you will win a specific number of tricks, is to claim
these tricks. e.g. “the rest are mine” or “I’ll give you one” then shows
the cards
The claim should be accompanied at once by a clear statement as to
the order in which the cards will be played.
If there is an outstanding trump outside the declarer’s hand, the Director
shall award a trick or tricks to the opponents if:
a. the claimer made no statement about that trump, and
b. if the claimer was unaware that there was an outstanding trump in an
opponents hand, and
c. a trick could be lost by any normal play.
Any normal play means that if you had the Ace and the three, you might
have played the three first without thinking and therefore lost it to the
“outstanding” 4 of trumps.
Once you lay your cards down you cannot say (when the outstanding
trump is shown) “well of course I was going to play the Ace first, do you
think I’m stupid”, its too late then….
So the answer is always to play the whole lot, don’t claim ever, and if the
opposition are playing the hand and claim, ask to see their hand.
Don’t pick up your cards at the end of the hand until
you have agreed with opponents the number of tricks made.
 xiii. Bridgetab Protocol
There is an impression that
only North is allowed to do
anything.
Players assume North has to
Score, look after the Boards,
put the Boards down
correctly, move the Boards
and so on.
But according to the Laws, only moving the Boards
(i.e. 1à 2à3), and checking the orientation on the Board,
is the specific responsibility of North.
Scoring can be done by anyone at the Table
If the Board is laid on a Table such that North’s cards are
taken by East etc. both pairs will be at fault.
The players must check that they have taken from the
correct docket, and have 13 cards
n.b. An error at the point will result in both N/S and
E/W being penalised by the Director
North also cannot be held responsible for the length of time
it takes the Board to be played. However if it’s not a Howell
type movement and North is sitting North all night he/she
has a primary responsibility to maintaining proper
conditions of play and that includes reducing the debates on
hands until after all the Boards have been played
Procedure:-
The Director/Scorer will place the Bridgetab on the
Table. The Tablet should be powered ON when you
pick it up, and the Director will have inserted the
Table No. for you.
1. DO NOT PRESS THE SETTINGS BUTTON.
2. At this stage the Tablets will indicate that the connection
with the router has been made.
    
If the Tablets do not show a connection had been
made inform the TD.
3. Enter the Players names then check all the names
are correct before pressing OK.
(Note if you enter the wrong no. for a player, press on the
players name and enter the correct no. or call the TD
If a player doesn’t know or is unsure of their number
put in “0”, and inform the Director when the Boards are
presented for play.
Don’t go running around trying to find a player’s
number. The Director can input the player easily at the
computer at the end of the evening. if he/she knows!
4. Inform your opponents of their E/W No. then press
next and read off what boards you are to play.
The Director/Scorer will now place the Boards to
play on the Table
. Now check and play the Board:-
a. Correct Boards? Agrees with Pad?
b. Orientation OK?
c. Each hand has 13 cards?
d. Announce the Dealer ?
AUCTION
e. Input the Contract?
f. Play the Hand?
g. Input the Tricks made?
Now pass the Bridgetab to East who checks the input, and
passes the Pad back to North, without pressing OK.
n.b. At his point E/W and N/S will be fined by the Director
if the score input is wrong.
5. North presses OK again to view and announce the % given
to N/S. and to look at other scores. If E/W have played the
hand, North hands the Pad to East to allow that pair to view
the results.
Please remember that the next table are liable to hear loud
comments, so keep it quiet.
6. Shuffle your hand and return the hand to its docket.
n.b. At his point E/W and N/S will be fined by the
Director if the hands are placed in the wrong dockets
7. .Press OK to Finish the Board.
Go back to 4. for next hand etc.
8 . Watch your Time:- Don’t rush but remember this
Playing 21 boards/session --- 11 mins/board
24 --- 9 mins/board
27 ---- 7 mins/board
Both N/S and E/W should raise the issue of time if they
believe they are going over these times.
n.b. If this happens the Director will stop the players
playing a Board if they have fallen behind and
are disrupting the flow of the play.
Note : After the last hand of the evening you can view the
RANKING
In some events e.g. Sims or Club Championship Events when
you press Next to send your result on, the Scorer might prevent
you seeing the other players results on the Board. Some might
gain an advantage or disadvantage from seeing these results,
but it speeds the evening along if we are playing a lot of boards
Laws:
The generally accepted Laws of Duplicate Contract Bridge apply.
This is a small friendly club and here are a few local pointers that may help you: -
1- Psyches
Outright psyches are frowned upon.
This is because many inexperienced
players in our club cannot handle them.
2- Revokes
If the opposition revoke and it is not
immediately spotted, the rules say to
call the director and this is what you
should do.
3- Count your cards
The rules clearly state that a player
should count his cards without looking
at them before doing anything else.
If a hand is into the playing stage before
somebody discovers that they have the
incorrect number of cards then the hand
has to be scrapped for that table (and the
Director has to sort out the mess). So the
guilty party(s) will be given a penalty
and the non-offending parties will
receive an adjusted (favourable) score.
 4- Bidding Boxes
A call is regarded as made when a bidding card has been taken out
of the bidding box with apparent intent.
A player is obliged to make up his mind before
he touches any bidding card in the box.
Hesitation between bids, when touching the
bidding cards, is bad practise and partner
could be liable to penalty if advantage was taken
of any unauthorised information coming from
such behaviour.
A call may be changed without penalty when all
the following conditions are fulfilled:
a- The player has inadvertently taken out the wrong
bidding card and;
b- the player corrects, or attempts to correct, without
pause for thought.
5- System.
If you play an unusual system that is allowed by the WBU it is polite
to inform the opposition when you first meet.
Have a convention card.
6– Announcements
All conventional bids are to be alerted by the partner of the bidder
using the “Alert Card”- an explanation is only given to be given by
the alerter, if requested by the opponents at their turn.
The use of the “jump bid” is to be preceded by placing the “Stop
Card” on the table– after the use of the “Stop Card” the following
player must pause for a standard period (i.e. 10seconds) before
making any bid, including pass. A longer pause is bad practice and
a penalty if any would be on the partner who took advantage of any
unauthorised information coming from this..
It is best is to simply announce ‘12-14' or ‘15-17' or whatever when
partner opens 1NT. Similarly you can simply state ‘transfer' if partner
makes a transfer bid over your 1NT opening or overcall and
announce natural if a 2♦/♥ bid over your 1NT is natural.
.
And if a 1♣ opening can be 2 card you should announce ‘may be short'
-Questions.
During the auction, you may ask questions
(to the partner of the opponent who made the bid) at your turn
to bid or play a card.
Unless it affects your action, it is generally recommended not
asking questions until the end of the auction. Any questions
should be about the whole auction and not a particular bid.
If a bid is not alerted, it is taken as natural and to ask if an
unalerted bid is natural is not allowed.
Questions may also be asked by declarer about the play of the
cards by defenders.
For example, do not ask opponents what type of Blackwood
they are playing or how many Aces etc. have been shown, wait
until after the auction unless it affects a decision that you may
make.
If you are defending and you are on lead, then you should ask
questions before leading. When you lead, it should always be
face down and you say ‘Questions partner?' or ‘OK?'. Your
partner may then ask questions before the opening lead is
revealed. If you are not on lead and partner has a propensity to
lead face up, then ask him to lead face down, especially if you
have a question.
8-The action after the auction has been completed.
As dummy you should put your cards facedown straightaway.
This signals that you are dummy and therefore who is on lead.
The bidding cards should be left on the table until the lead is
made. Once the lead is made, all players should return the
bidding cards to the box .
9-Calling for Dummy's Card
If declarer has something like ♦QJ109872 and calls for a
♦ then the rules say that Declarer implies the lowest card.
And suppose a player has a holding such as AQ and the lead
comes up to this holding with the intention of finessing but the
King appears and he inadvertently goes through with the
‘finesse' and plays the queen, then he should be paying more
attention and cannot replace it.
10- Passed Out.
Standard rules are pretty clear here – if a deal is passed out then
you press PASS on the Bridgepad and move on to the next board.
But our club is basically a friendly club where people want to play
Bridge – and not sit out when others are playing. So if a board is
passed out on the first round (when the hands are shuffled) it
should be re-dealt.
11- Prepared Boards
We sometimes play prepared boards and hope that the points are
roughly evenly distributed between N-S and E-W over the
complete set of boards so that both sides have approximately
equal chances of defending/declaring etc. Don’t think that these
hands have been “doctored” so that the finesses fail, the
distribution is manipulated etc. The hands are randomly dealt and
only checked to make sure your pair will play 50% and defend
50%
Usually by doing this, we get a hand print-out at the end, and use
it to determine how we ought to have bid and played the hand.
For some events you may find the hands on the Club Webpage.
12- Cards on the Table
During the play, all players should place the cards played down in
the correct orientation - long ways when the trick is won and
sideways when lost- as they are played.
At the end of the deal the number of tricks should be agreed and
input made to the computer before the hands are returned to board.
If there is a dispute about tricks won and the director is called then
the Director will usually be on the side of a player who still has
his cards laid out ‘correctly' in front of him.
13- Reviewing the cards played to the last trick.
The strict rules of bridge do not allow you to see the last trick once
everybody has turned their card over. This can cause problems
(uncertainty as to where the lead is etc.) and with the large number
of inexperienced players at our friendly club we do relax this rule
so that anybody may ask to see the cards for the last trick before
any card is played to the next one.
The purpose of these notes is to create a much more pleasant atmosphere and to make the game of bridge more enjoyable for all.
The following are some examples of commendable behaviour that will
significantly contribute to an improved atmosphere:
being a good 'host' or 'guest' at the table;
greeting others in a friendly manner;
praising the bidding and/or play of
the opponents;
and having a clearly completed
convention card readily available to
the opponents
The following are some examples
of behaviour which
will not be tolerated: -
Angry gestures; badgering; rudeness;
insinuations; intimidation; profanity;
threats or violence; negative comments
concerning opponent's or partner's play
or bidding; gloating over good results;
constant and gratuitous lessons and
analyses at the table; arguing with the
Director's ruling.
If a player at the table behaves in an unacceptable manner, the
director should be called immediately. Annoying behaviour, embarrassing remarks, or any other conduct which might interfere with the enjoyment of the game is specifically prohibited.
The Director has the authority to assess disciplinary penalties.
Updated by A.Lightbody & J. Salisbury May 2018
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